Labor Inspection and Labor Standards Enforcement in Quebec: Contingencies and Intervention Strategies
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LABOR INSPECTION AND LABOR STANDARDS
ENFORCEMENT IN QUEBEC: CONTINGENCIES
AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
Dalia Gesualdi-Fecteaut and Guylaine Valketf
I. INTRODUCTION
In many legal systems, labor law has been constructed by adopting
laws that depart from or complement the rules of common law. In
international law, as in several national systems, the first labor standards
focused on hours of work, the safety of workers in industrial
establishments, and minimum wages in order to combat the exploitation
resulting from the power imbalance between the parties to the employment
relationship.1
The mechanisms for enforcing standards governing wage labor have
also been marked by the origins and raison d'&re of labor law.2 In parallel
to a movement that removed the regulation of the employment relationship
from the hold of common law, several national legal systems put in place
institutions that were responsible for labor inspection. In general, the role of
labor inspection is to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions
relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged
in their work.,3 The functions of enforcement and advice held by these
f Professor, Department of Law, Universit6 du Qudbec A Montrdal (UQAM), Canada.
tf Professor, School of Industrial Relations, Universit6 de Montrdal, Canada. The authors would
like to thank all the respondents who agreed to meet us for interviews and the Labour Standards
Commission for giving us access to complaint files. Most of the research done for this Article was
supported by a SSHRC Standard Research Grant L'obligation de disponibilitj du employee: une
nouvelle source de prcarit ou deflexibilit?. The authors would also like to thank Chau Nguyen for
translating this Article.
1. See Adrian Goldin, Global Conceptualizations and Local Constructions of the Idea ofLabour
Law, in THE IDEA OF LABOUR LAW 69 (Guy Davidov & Brian Langille, eds., 2011); Brian Langille,
Labour Law's Theory of Justice, supra, at 101.
2. PIERRE VERGE & GUYLAINE VALLEtE, UN DROIT DU TRAVAIL? ESSAI SUR LA SPtCIFICITt DU
DROIT DU TRAVAIL, 133 (Editions Yvon Blais ed., 1997) (Can. Que.).
3. ILO Convention No. 81 (July 11, 1947, 30th International Labour Conference sess., ILO,
Geneva, art 3, entry into force Apr. 7, 1950) [hereinafter ILO Convention No. 81]. This clause refers to
provisions relating to hours, wages, safety, health and welfare, the employment of children and young
persons, and other connected matters, in so far as such provisions are enforceable by labour inspectors.
This Convention has not yet been ratified by Canada.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/cllpj37&div=25&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Labor Inspection and Labor Standards Enforcement in Quebec: Contingencies and Intervention Strategies
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